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“Functional” kidneys grown from stem cells

By Claire Ainsworth

US scientists claim to have grown functional kidneys using stem cells taken from cloned cow embryos. Robert Lanza of biotech company Advanced Cell Technology told New Scientist that his team, working in collaboration with a group at Harvard University, coaxed the stem cells into becoming kidney cells, and then “grew” them on a kidney-shaped scaffold.

The two-inch-long mini-kidneys were then transplanted back into genetically identical cows, where they started making urine, Lanza says.

If confirmed, the work raises the prospect of using stem cells taken from human patients with kidney failure to create new organs for transplant.

However, Lanza will not discuss the details of the work, as it has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. “I can’t go into specifics,” he says.

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No details are available as to exactly what these miniature kidneys are, and whether they are in fact complete, functional organs. The kidney is a very complex organ, with an intricate supply of blood vessels that are key to its ability to filter blood.

British kidney experts are sceptical about the possibility that ACT has re-created the kidney in its entirety. “I’d be very surprised if they could recreate an organ with a very complex vascular [blood] system,” said one. It is possible that the company had made a simpler structure that could still produce urine, he said.

Lanza himself admits that the work is still in its earliest stages. “It’s just a proof of principle that demonstrates that you can use therapeutic cloning to create a functional organ,” he told New Scientist. “There is obviously a considerable amount of work to be done before that could be applicable clinically.”

ACT attracted widespread publicity in November 2001 for announcing that it had created the first human clones. These claims were disputed by other scientists.